Michael Raffetto

Michael Raffetto (born Elwyn Creighton Raffetto; December 31, 1899 – May 31, 1990) was an American radio actor who starred as Paul Barbour (1932–1956) in the NBC Radio series One Man's Family and as Jack Packard in I Love a Mystery during the heyday of radio in the 1930s and 1940s.

Early life

Elwyn Creighton Raffetto was born in Placerville, California, the son of John Augustus Raffetto, (His grandparents, Domenico Raffetto and Anna Pensa, came first to nearby Newtown, California, from Ognio, a mountain village northeast of Genoa. ) He graduated cum laude from the University of California at Berkeley's Boalt Hall in 1925.

Career

Raffetto pitched a program concept to NBC Radio's Tom Hutchinson in San Francisco. He went on to star, direct, and produce the show, called Arm of the Law. a fighter pilot wounded in World War I. John Dunning, a detective fiction and nonfiction author, wrote, "Raffetto brought to Paul a deep-voiced aura of strength, tenderness, and intelligence." NBC Radio first broadcast the show on April 29, 1932. Raffetto stayed with the show through 1956 (and the show ended on May 8, 1959). Paul Barbour ended many episodes with the line "That's how it is with the Barbours today."

Raffetto also starred in Death Valley Days (1930) and Attorney for the Defense (1944).

Personal life and death

Raffetto's second wife was sculptor Constance Murray Raffetto (a "Californio" and brother of Alexander Howison Murray Jr., descended from Eulalia Perez de Guillen Marine). During that time, he wrote unpublished works, including a family history.

Acting credits

Radio

Raffetto's radio work lasted from 1930 to 1956 and included: Arm of the Law (1930) Numb and Dumb (1931?) Chinatown Squad (1932) One Man's Family (1932-1956) – Paul Barber I Love a Mystery (1939-1952) – Jack Packard Attorney for the Defense (1944) – Jonathan Brixton (voice sample) NBC Parade of the Stars (1946) – Himself Saturday's Children (1947) (The Screen Guild Theater – CBS) I Love Adventure (1948) Behold a Woman (1948) – Narrator Families Need Parents (undated)

Film

Raffetto acted in small roles as early as the silent film era in films like Tillie's Punctured Romance starring W. C. Fields. He continued to act in the 1940s and 1950s, including major films like A Foreign Affair (1948) with Marlene Dietrich and Storm Center (1956) with Bette Davis.

Raffetto's film work lasted from 1928 to 1957 and included: Tillie's Punctured Romance (1928) She's a Sheik (1929) Today I Hang (1942) - Roger Lanning

Images

Photo 1930s Photo (2nd from left) Caricature Jack Packard (left) Photo 1944 Michael Photo 1947 Photo 1948 (right) Photo undated